California Sues ExxonMobil Over Deceptive Plastic Recycling Claims

The state of California has filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil over allegations that the oil company used deceptive claims about plastics recycling.

On Monday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the lawsuit against ExxonMobil “for allegedly engaging in a decades-long campaign of deception that caused and exacerbated the global plastics pollution crisis.”

“The Department of Justice alleges that ExxonMobil has been deceiving Californians for half a century through misleading public statements and slick marketing promising that recycling would address the ever-increasing amount of plastic waste ExxonMobil produces,” Bonta’s office said in a press release.

“Through this lawsuit, the Attorney General seeks to compel ExxonMobil, which promotes and produces the largest amount of polymers—essentially the building blocks used to make single-use plastic—that become plastic waste in California, to end its deceptive practices that threaten the environment and the public,” the press release said.

Bonta’s office noted that despite the existence of recycling programs, fewer than 5 percent of plastics in the U.S. are recycled into new products, even though they are labeled as “recyclable.” As a result, plastic waste continues to pile up in landfills and pollute oceans.

Bonta, a Democrat, noted that a coalition of environmental nonprofits has also filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil, one of the world’s top plastic producers. The state’s lawsuit, however, is separate. Both suits accuse the oil giant of misleading the public with false statements and polished marketing campaigns.

“Plastics are everywhere, from the deepest parts of our oceans, the highest peaks on earth, and even in our bodies, causing irreversible damage—in ways known and unknown—to our environment and potentially our health,” Bonta said in a statement.

“For decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible. ExxonMobil lied to further its record-breaking profits at the expense of our planet and possibly jeopardizing our health.”

On Sunday, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed legislation banning plastic shopping bags in supermarkets statewide.

The lawsuit claims that ExxonMobil was aware of the high cost and difficulty of eradicating plastic, which breaks down into harmful microplastics but still pushed recycling as a primary solution through news outlets and social media.

The lawsuit alleges that ExxonMobil has recently been promoting “advanced recycling” or “chemical recycling” as a more effective way to convert old plastics into new products.

This article includes reporting from the Associated Press.